Intro

The next month may be one of the most important for #Pravduh about #Tesla, because the people — including shareholders and potential investors on the sidelines — are being misled.

So far, January is turning out to be the most negative news month since September. One of the biggest clouds on the horizon, the convertible debt bond worth $920 million, is due to be payed in March. Tesla could get a 50% discount on this ($460 million), but only if it meets a certain criterium — a stock price of around $360. This all depends on a well informed public.

How about we put that $460 million into some perspective? $450 million dollars is how much Tesla spent on Gigafactory 1 construction in the first 7 quarters of its development. Imagine two years of initial Gigafactory 3 costs completely gone. Instead, we have short sellers masquerading as analysts and dropping the hot potato that is Tesla.

Remember when creditor Moody’s downgraded Tesla just days before an earnings report disproving their theory was published? Well, guess what — history is repeating itself. This time, the RBC downgraded Tesla shortly before an earnings report instead of holding their horses a few more days to see whether their theories pan out. (We know, that’s how analysts roll.)

The media, meanwhile, might again choose to hold positive Tesla news hostage while amplifying anything negative they can get their hands on. If this happens in the coming week, don’t be surprised.

As a meta note, something interesting happened last week. Fox News had an article containing a tweet with the #Pravduh hashtag: “Elon Musk’s mom says Tesla shares manipulated by media, short sellers” was the title. The one thing the article didn’t discuss at all, though, was #Pravduh, #FUD, #CleanEnergyWillWin, or any of the other tags Maye Musk uses, nor the source of her information about media misinformation (which is, of course, these #Pravduh About #Tesla reports). They also just happened to pick two tweets that don’t mention CleanTechnica. Now, either the author did not do her research at all or she purposely decided to avoid mentioning the source. (Perhaps Fox News doesn’t want its readers checking out these reports.)

In any case, @MayeMusk, thanks again for your help — it seems we are succeeding at spreading the Pravduh! You’re awesome! #CleanEnergyWillWin

A final topic before we move on to the report: it’s always wise to dig deeper into stories. An eagle-eyed reader of ours, Patrick Riley, did just that. Forbes last week published this article: “Tesla Might Solve Its Cash Woes With Franchise Dealers,” written by Jeremy Alicandri. On closer inspection, this “journalist” has an extensive history working for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). The other strange thing is that there were multiple unusual, out-of-the-blue articles like that last week. Here’s another example: “Tesla Should Pull an Apple: Leave ‘Production Hell’ to Other People” (Wall Street Journal). Feel free to take a moment for a facepalm here before continuing on to the report.

#Pravduh About #TeslaReport #21 (January 19–25)

The next matter on our itinerary is tracking the authors who covered this news. While the whole list is too long to put here since there are many authors who have written just one piece about Tesla, here are the 34 authors who published more than 12 articles about Tesla since we started tracking on September 1st, ranked from least positive to most positive:

For this entire section, note: At major media outlets, there are often headline writers who control this part of articles, but we find tracking the authors is also interesting and potentially useful for considering what kind of stories the authors tend to write.

Under-Reported Tesla News Last Week

Adding onto the summary in the intro, here’s a summary of Tesla news and potential news ordered by day. You can consider for yourself what were objectively the important updates in the “Tesla story” last week.

Some Sneaky Headlines Last Week

Tesla has shrunk its Model S and X production hours in order to focus on the Model 3 (TSLA) (Business Insider)

Visionary Elon Musk is forced to focus on the mundane to keep his Tesla dream alive (LA Times)

The more these #Pravduh About #Tesla reports get shared online through social media, the more people will take notice. If there is an ongoing heavily negative slant about Tesla in certain outlets — even as Tesla has so much positive news to share — people should be aware of this and approach each new story with that in mind.

About the Author

Chanan Bos Chanan grew up in a multicultural, multi-lingual environment that often gives him a unique perspective on a variety of topics. He is always in thought about big picture topics like AI, quantum physics, philosophy, Universal Basic Income, climate change, sci-fi concepts like the singularity, misinformation, and the list goes on. Currently, he is studying creative media & technology but already has diplomas in environmental sciences as well as business & management. His goal is to discourage linear thinking, bias, and confirmation bias whilst encouraging out-of-the-box thinking and helping people understand exponential progress. Chanan is very worried about his future and the future of humanity. That is why he has a tremendous admiration for Elon Musk and his companies, foremost because of their missions, philosophy, and intent to help humanity and its future. He sees Tesla as one of the few companies that can help us save ourselves from climate change.